Behind the Mask continuation
by awesomexgirl123
Summary: Continuation of CherryBlossom173 story. Disclaimer: This is not mine!
1. Chapter 1

Shatter

What I learned at an early in my life was that good things were ALWAYS followed by bad things. Like one day you get an A on a test and the next week you get a D or worse.

That was how this week was.

On Wednesday I got a surprise visit from my mom's friend, Celeste Crawford, a famous artist in Brooklyn. It was the end of the school day and I was walking towards where Bulkhead usually waited for me, but he wasn't there. I looked around and saw that Jack and Raf had already left with their guardians, so I did what I always did when Bulkhead was late, I sat and started to draw.

10 minutes turned into 30 minutes, and still Bulkhead wasn't here. 30 minutes turned into an hour and no sign of Bulkhead.

I sighed. He wasn't coming. I got up and started to walk to my host parent's house.

Just when I was about to cross the street a silver jeep stopped right in front of me, had I not stopped the person would have run me over.

"Yo watch it!" I yelled. The passenger side window rolled down for me to see a familiar face.

"You have your mothers looks and your fathers temper, hop in sweetheart." Said a women's French accent.

I smiled at Celeste and got it, and then I turned to have a better look at her. Golden hair with soft curls, pale skin, bright green eyes, amazing complexion, the body of a model. It's no wonder why where ever we go she turns heads.

When we reached a red light Celeste turned her green eyes to me.

"So what's been going on petite amie*?

I just shrugged. I couldn't tell her about the 'friends' I had made and I most certainly couldn't tell her about the isolation and overwhelming sadness I felt. She would freak out and give them a piece of her mind, not caring that most of them were giant, alien robots.

"I found out that the brochure lied, so I've just been hanging around town with some friends, getting by in school, which is kinda easy*, playing my guitar, drawing and painting. You know stuff like that."

Celeste nodded, her eyes focused on the road as the light turned green again.

We drove for a little while, talking about school, 'friends', and of course, art. We drove into town and stopped by the local bakery.

I looked at Celeste confused.

"Why are we here?"

She laughed.

"Because silly, I live here!" She opened the bakery door and ushered my inside. She waved to the baker, who waved back, as we made our way up the stair and into a short hallway. At the end of the hallway was a simple wooden door.

Celeste walked to the door, opened it, and walked inside, leaving the door open so I would follow.

I did.

Closing the door behind me, I gasped looking around the room. It looked like a Manhattan apartment! In a small living room was a table, futon, and a small TV, the walls were a off white color, and the ceiling was white. Not what I expected from an artist's home, but it still looked cozy.

The kitchen was kinda small, only room for a table with two chairs, everything was either white or orange. Why orange I don't know, but it reminded me of the summers I spent in Tokyo.

It had one bedroom filled with a bad and paint supplies, of course.

"I like it." I said. Celeste turned to me and smiled.

"I'm glad sweetheart, but I'm only going to be here for a week for an artist convention."

I perked up. "Hey can I go?"

Celeste laughed. "Of course you can go, if you want to."

"You bet I do!"

Celeste laughed again.

"Okay kiddo, but that means we're going shopping! The convention is on Friday and God forbid you wear your street clothes!"

That's another thing with Celeste; she loves to shop and loves to dress me up like a Barbie doll. Fun huh?

Now it was my turn to laugh. "Oh no we can't have that now can we?"

She chuckled.

"We'll go shopping tomorrow, I'll pick you up from school the moment you walk out the door got that?"

I nodded and she started laughing again, she was such a happy person.

We talked about pretty much everything under the sun until I felt a buzz coming from my phone. It was a text message from Jack asking me where I was. I scoffed. Like he cared, Bulkhead probably wanted him to send it.

I told him that I was at a friend's house and he just said that he and Arcee were coming to pick me up and told me to give him the address.

I did and 10 minutes later there was a knock at the door, I opened it, introduced Jack to Celeste, and left.

The drive to the base was a quiet one, and I could tell the Jack and Arcee were probably upset with me, but for once I didn't care. I had fun with a friend.

Too bad nobody else at the case felt the same way. I got chewed out my Optimus, Ratchet, and Bulkhead for not going to the base right after school.

I felt anger bubbling over me and I let them know it too. I all but yelled at them that I would have been at the base if Bulkhead had remembered to pick me up from school, and I also made it clear that they weren't my only friends( Ratchet also made it very clear that we weren't friends, that I was here to be protected and that's it.) I flinched at Ratchets words, I knew it already, but hearing out loud was like getting slapped in the face.

I narrowed my eyes at them and clenched my teeth and said in a semi calm voice that Celeste was only going to be here until Sunday, then she will leave to go back to Brooklyn, but until then I'm going to hang out with her.

Nobody liked that idea. If I was with Celeste then Bulkhead couldn't protect me and what if the Decepticons showed up?

I tried to reassure them that where we were going was crowded and the Deceptions were dumb enough to expose themselves like that.

Still they didn't like that. Like I cared!

I stomped away to another room, making them think I had left, but I really hid behind the wall to try and calm myself down, though I wish I hadn't.

I heard Jack's voice speak up.

"My god she's such a child sometimes!" I flinched at his words.

"A stupid one at that." Ratchet said, why did their words hurt so much? I should've expected this.

"I think she's being selfish, she's endangering all of us so she can have fun!" Arcee.

I silently gasped. My mask was starting to slip, so I did what most people would have done. I ran away. I ran through the hall, out of the base and in the direction of town. I just wish I knew how long I had to walk.

I had walked for 30 minutes straight when I heard the sound of a car coming from behind me. Thinking it was an Autobot, I kept walking. It didn't take long for the car to catch up to me, but to my mild surprise it wasn't an Autobot, or a Decepticon.

The car was a little familiar though.

The passenger side window rolled down to reveals a man face, no older than 16 with fire red hair and piercing green eyes.

Wait a minute I knew him! He was the guy that challenged Jack to a race, and lost. I believe his name was Vince.

"Hey do you need a ride? It's another 10 miles until the town." He said, kinda generously.

I smiled a little. Okay maybe accepting a ride from someone I didn't know very well wasn't a good idea, but I had a pocket knife on me so I figured I would be kinda safe.

"I would love a ride thank you, Vince right?"

He seemed kinda surprised that I knew his name, his cheeks even reddened a little.

"Yeah, my names Vince. Hey you're that artist chick aren't you? The one from Japan?"

I blinked at him as i sat down and closed the door.

"Yeah, but how do you know me?"

"Oh well I don't KNOW you, seeing as I just met you and all, I just know you're from Japan and an awesome artist."

I laughed, okay he wasn't SO bad and he managed to cheer me up a little.

Vince grinned as he started to drive.

"So can I ask why you were out here all by yourself? In the middle of nowhere?" Vince asked.

"No you may not." I said laughing to let him know that I didn't mean offence.

"Okay okay, sorry I pried." He said, also laughing.

Yeah he wasn't a bad guy.

We sat in silence for a while until my cell buzzed again, and again it was Jack asking where I was.

I didn't reply. Okay maybe I did but it wasn't nice.

I threw my phone onto my lap, and scowled out the window.

"Careful, don't break my window by making it spontaneously combust." Vince said in a joking manner.

I chuckled, I just couldn't help it!

"So I'm guessing the person who sent you that text is the reason you're out in the middle of the desert?"

"You're a good guesser."

"Hey I was wondering if you would like to hang out with me and some of my friends at the park." Vince asked randomly.

I shrugged. "I got nothing better to do."

I could have sworn that his smile got even wider. Oh boy what was I getting myself into?


	2. Chapter 2

Life hates me

In truth….hanging out with Vince's friends wasn't that bad. Okay it wasn't bad at all, I actually had a lot of fun.

Your probably wondering who these people are huh? Okay let me start with Sarah. She is this blond hair blue eyed girl from California, she's really nice, almost motherly in a way, but that's because her mom was never around and she had to take care of her younger sister and a young age.

Next is Johnny, he's this big (muscle wise) African American guy from here, Jasper ,Nevada, he's been friends with Vince ever since they could walk, he's also a girl's best friend. Why do you ask? Because he's the coolest gay guy I've ever met! That's why! He's not afraid to act weird in front of anybody and he loves a good laugh.

After Johnny is Selena, mousy brown hair and golden highlights, she the quiet one of the group, keeps to herself most of the time, but she's really nice and loves to write stories, I'm serious, with only a few words she can transport you to a whole another universe! It's amazing!

Finally there's Alec, I really didn't like him very much, and the way he was looking at me made me think he had some naughty thoughts going on in his head! He had blond hair and hazel eyes, pale skin and a weird demeanor. I didn't trust him, not one bit. I could also tell that the others didn't like him very much either, the way they kept glancing at him from the corner of their eyes. But to my grave mistake I shook it off as nothing.

The afternoon was awesome; we played music, talked, danced, and sung. We took turns singing, I didn't want to sing, knowing that I wasn't very good, but Alice and Sarah convinced me that good singing came from the heart and pure emotions, and that even if I sucked nobody would laugh at me.

So when it was my turn to sing, and I did, as the song started up I remembered the good times I had with the Autobot, and Jack and Raf, then I started thinking about how they reacted earlier today, and to my surprise that made my voice sound even better!

When the song ended and my voice still rang through the air in finally, everyone just stared at me.

"What?" I asked.

"That was amazing Miko! You should do that for a living!" Alice gushed, and I blushed.

"I'm not that good really. I don't even know where that came from." I tried to explain.

Sarah just smiled and hugged me, man it was weird in a good way, aside from Alec I felt like I could trust these people with my very life, like I've known them forever.

"you can sing like that because it came from your heart Miko, you're a very talented woman, you can play guitar, you're a fantastic artist, you can sing like a goddess, your kind, loving, very fun, wild, not to mention your very beautiful." Sarah said, releasing me from the hug, I blushed again and looked away.

Soon after that Vince dropped me off at my host parent's house. I walked in with a smile on my face, surprising my host parents, but they welcomed it none the less.

"How was your evening dear?" My host mother, Claire Cotton, asked while we were eating dinner.

"Awesome, I made new friends today, their totally nice; well except this one guy Alec, but never mind about him, so how was your guy's day?"

My host parents shared a surprise look that I pretended not to notice, and then they went on discussing their day.

After dinner I helped in the kitchen, drying dishes, humming the whole time.

"Why Miko sweetheart, you have a wonderful singing voice!" Claire said, laughing. It was days like this that I really did love my host parents and even though I was a troubling child (as Ratchet once put it) I knew they loved me too.

"Thanks Claire, well I'm going to head upstairs, oh wait I almost forgot. Is it okay if I go with-"But my host dad, Dalton, cut me off.

"With Celeste tomorrow for shopping for clothes for the art convention?" I was speechless, could they read my mind?

"Celeste called before she went to pick you up from school." Ah okay then, that explains it.

"So can I?" I pleaded and Claire laughed.

"Of course you can sweetheart, but just be careful, don't go anywhere alone."

"I won't." I promised as I made my way to my room. I looked around my room, I didn't know why, but felt like I should be looking out for something. Nothing out of the ordinary though, pushed against my window was my piano key covered bed; on the opposite side of the room was my dresser and he door to m bathroom, on the left side was a table and chair for my artwork and homework, and the right was the computer desk. Nope everything was where it should be.

I finished my homework, plugged in my IPod and phone so they could charge, played a little on the computer, showered, and get into bed, and the whole time I felt I was being watched.

(Line break)

I woke up like every other day, the sun shining on my face, and my alarm clock going off. I groaned, slammed my hand on the sleep button, got up, and got ready for the day.

But when I pulled out my regular clothes, I felt the want to try something new, so I pulled out blue skinny jeans, a hot pink tank top with a shiny black quarter note*, I left the part my hair that was always in pigtails down, but braded the longer sections and put a pink and gold feather on its end, instead of brown and pinks boots, I slipped on a pair of knee length black and white high tops, I applied some eyes liner and lip balm and I was done.

I was just about to go to the kitchen to get some food, when my phone vibrated on its charger. It was a text message from Jack saying that the all the Autobots went on a mission and that they weren't going to be back until Saturday night.

I sighed but texted him back saying thank you. Now how was I going to get to school?

I mentally hit myself in the forehead, I wonder if Vince could take me. I texted him and not even a few minutes later he replied saying that he'll be at my house in 20 minutes.

Scrap, 20 minutes! I raced downstairs and ate a granola bar, went back upstairs to brush my teeth and grab my homework and put it in my Gir messenger bag.

The moments I reached the door I heard a car horn, after locking the door behind me I raced to Vince's car and got in.

"Took you long enough Pixie." Vince said smiling as he pulled out of the driveway.

"Pixie? I'm not that small!" I exclaimed and Vince laughed.

"Yeah you are Miko; it looks like you don't eat very much." Vince's face fell to a worried expression.

"Believe me, I eat. I just have a fast metabolism. Don't worry about me Vince, I'm perfectly healthy." I reassured him.

He smiled a little as he pulled into the school parking lot.

We met up with the others at the doors and proceeded to class. Unfortunately no one was in my first block class and even more unfortunately JACK was in that class with me, and since the school year was almost done and we had no more work to do in that class, we had free time to talk and watch a movie.

I was sketching a rose when I felt a tap on my shoulder. I took a deep breath and turned around slowly to face Jack's….wait was he blushing?

"Miko, I was making sure it was you, um….can I talk to you about yesterday?"

Was I that unrecognizable?

"What Jack? What can you possibly have to say to after what you guys said when you thought I left the room?" I asked him coldly and to my surprise he flinched. Was I scary when angered and hurt? The look on his face said yes.

"Miko we were all just angry and worried and tired, but that still doesn't excuse us for what we did and I'm sorry you got hurt." He practically pleaded. I know that I shouldn't believe him, and I still very hurt for what was said about me behind my back, but there was something in those deep blue eyes that made me want to believe him.

After a minute of silence I turned around, I heard Jack sigh.

"I believe you, but I do not trust you. It's going to take a lot more than simple words to gain that back."

I heard him breathe a sigh of relief and get up to leave.

The rest of the day past without any interruptions or any mention of the Autobots.

Celeste came to pick me up the moment I walked out the door and we were off!

I can't tell you how long we shopped for, just that by the time I got home, which was around 9 o'clock at night, I had several beautiful outfits and I was dead on my feet tired. So after I took a shower and dressed in my night clothes, well let's just say I was asleep before my head even hit my pillow.

Good thing I finished all my homework in school.


End file.
